Where Things Stand
Bitcoin closes the August book at $78,842, down 0.6% on the week but still holding a 13.7% monthly gain. Ether trades at $2,479, softer on the week at -3.7%. Solana is the standout, up 9.2% over seven days to $106.15, with XRP quietly adding 1.7% to $1.40.
The flow tape tells a cleaner story than price. InflowScan data shows five straight sessions of net ETF inflows, running Monday's +$459M through Friday's +$76M. Peak day was Tuesday at +$512M. The tail-off into Friday is worth flagging — bid persisted, but conviction thinned as the session ran into month-end.
Flow Momentum
InflowScan FlowScores heading into the week: SOL 81.2, XRP 71.2, ETH 64.4, BTC 60.2. Solana leading the complex is the story worth watching. Historically, a FlowScore above 80 on an alt-major has been consistent with sustained issuer-level accumulation rather than one-off allocation.
Bitcoin's 60.2 reading is the softest of the four despite BTC absorbing the bulk of dollar flow. The read: BTC flows are steady but no longer accelerating, while SOL and XRP momentum is building off a smaller base. The divergence points to rotation within the ETF wrapper, not away from it.
Levels to Watch
Bitcoin: $80,000 is the level that matters. BTC has failed to reclaim it on the last two attempts, and a sixth inflow session Monday without a break above would suggest the bid is being absorbed by supply rather than pushing through it. Downside reference sits at the $76,500 area, where the late-August range base held.
Ether: $2,500 caps the tape. ETH lost 3.7% on the week despite BTC holding roughly flat — that relative weakness is the cleanest signal that the ETH bid is thinner than the BTC bid at current levels. A reclaim of $2,550 would ease that read; a fail to defend $2,420 would extend it.
Funding Rate Setup
Binance perpetual funding sits close to neutral across the majors: BTC at 0.0069%, ETH at 0.0088%, XRP at 0.0005%. Solana funding is mildly negative at -0.0118% despite the 9.2% weekly gain — a configuration historically associated with spot-led moves rather than perp-driven squeezes.
Near-flat funding into a five-day ETF inflow streak is the setup institutional desks tend to prefer: cash-and-carry basis stays contained, and directional exposure is being expressed through the spot/ETF channel rather than levered perps. If BTC funding pushes above 0.015% early in the week, the character of the bid changes.
Stablecoin Positioning
USDT supply stands at $183.3B (+$142M on the week) and USDC at $74.1B (+$527M). The USDC pace is the more telling number — institutional-preferred stablecoin supply is expanding faster than USDT, consistent with dry powder building on the regulated side of the market.
Combined, that is roughly $669M of new stablecoin supply landing into a week that opens with an active five-day ETF inflow streak. The dry-powder picture supports continuation of the flow trend; it does not force it.
Catalysts & Calendar
The first week of September carries the usual month-open repositioning dynamic — allocators rebalance, and settled ETF flow prints for the final August sessions land through Tuesday and Wednesday. Watch the Monday and Tuesday inflow prints for whether the streak extends to seven sessions, which would mark the longest run since the summer.
No FOMC or major macro print anchors the week, so the tape should trade on flow data and positioning rather than headline risk. Key data points to watch: whether SOL's FlowScore holds above 80, whether BTC funding stays sub-0.015%, and whether Friday's tail-off in flow size was month-end noise or the start of a fade.